Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Cape fishermen aid food banks with, what else – chowder

September 11, 2020 — Every New Year’s Eve, fisherman Bill Amaru makes clam chowder for about 200 people at Chatham’s Masonic Hall for First Night. He takes it very seriously, adds just the right spices – and a lot of butter.

But this year, on account of COVID-19, he won’t be making that chowder. He’s part of a more ambitious chowder undertaking — with the main ingredient haddock, in a project also born out of the pandemic.

Nearly 20,000 18-ounce containers began rolling out to food banks across the state a few weeks back, with a big goal accompanying those small containers: Feed America’s hungry and keep local fishermen at sea.

Amaru is among the Cape’s fishermen out catching the haddock.

“If in the first year we can deliver 100,000 pounds of chowder to food banks while guaranteeing fishermen a fair price and a steady buyer that would be an amazing win-win,” said Seth Rolbein, director of Cape Cod Fisheries Trust, a unit of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen Alliance, in Chatham.

The even bigger hope is that the initiative, launched with philanthropic support from Catch Together, could expand into federal food programs run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Read the full story at Wicked Local

LOUISIANA: LDWF to begin accepting CARES Act applications for fishermen affected by pandemic

September 10, 2020 — The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries will soon begin accepting applications for $14.6 million in financial assistance that will be available to Louisiana fishermen and others in the industry who have been financially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The funds are part of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Applications open at 8 a.m. Monday, Sept. 14, and must be submitted online.

To access the application, please visit www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/cares-act-assistance. The application process will be open for a six-week period. The deadline to submit applications is 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 26. Funding allocation is structured so that all applications submitted before the deadline will be considered.

“These federal funds are a great step toward helping our hardworking fishing community start to recover from the terrible financial losses the pandemic has caused their businesses and their families,” said Governor John Bel Edwards. “We will continue working with our federal partners to bring more funding to our fishing community now going through two years of economic hardships.”

LDWF is aware that Hurricane Laura may have adversely impacted many individuals wishing to apply for this program. LDWF will continually assess the application process and make adjustments as necessary.

Read the full story at KALB

Coronavirus Can Remain Infectious on Chilled Salmon For Over a Week, Per Chinese Study

September 10, 2020 — Researchers in China say the coronavirus can remain on chilled salmon and continue to be infectious for over a week.

According to Bloomberg, the research team from the South China Agricultural University and Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Guangzhou, found that COVID-19 collected from salmon can survive for eight days at 39 degrees Fahrenheit, a close temperature at which salmon are typically transported.

Read the full story at Seafood News

As more restaurants fall to pandemic pressures, others embrace new delivery and ghost kitchen models

September 10, 2020 — U.S. restaurants continue to face closures and bankruptcies as the COVID-19 pandemic makes a major impact on foodservice operators’ profitability.

Houston, Texas-based Luby’s is the latest financial victim of the coronavirus crisis, reporting in a press release that it has implemented a plan of liquidation and dissolution to dissolve the company.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

USDA UPDATES ON SEAFOOD TRADE RELIEF PROGRAM

September 9, 2020 — The following was released by the United States Department of Agriculture:

If you are a U.S. fisherman impacted by retaliatory tariffs, you may qualify for funding through the Seafood Trade Relief Program (STRP).

Sign-up for the Program

Sign-up for relief through the program from September 14, 2020 through December 14, 2020 by submitting an application through your local USDA Service Center.

The application form will be available here starting September 14, 2020

Service Center Status

All USDA Service Centers are open for business, including some that are open to visitors to conduct business in person by appointment only. More information can be found at farmers.gov/coronavirus/service-center-status.

About the Seafood Trade Relief Program

STRP is part of a relief strategy to support fishermen and other producers while the administration continues to work on free, fair and reciprocal trade deals to open more markets to help American farmers compete globally. The STRP prohibits a person or legal entity from receiving more than $250,000 from the program. In addition, an applicant’s average adjusted gross income (AGI) cannot exceed $900,000 unless at least 75 percent of the AGI of the person or entity comes from farming, ranching, forestry, seafood harvesting, or related activities.

Seafood commodities covered through STRP include:

  • Atka mackerel
  • Crab (Dungeness, King, Snow, Southern Tanner)
  • Flounder
  • Geoduck
  • Goosefish
  • Herrings
  • Lobster
  • Pacific Cod
  • Pacific Ocean Perch
  • Pollock
  • Sablefish
  • Salmon
  • Sole
  • Squid
  • Tuna
  • Turbot

Additional Resources

Read the full release here

Massachusetts Fishermen, State Leaders Fighting At-Sea Monitoring Proposal

September 8, 2020 — Massachusetts fishermen are not sitting back quietly as the New England Fisheries Management Council (NEFMC) considers a policy shift that would require 100% at-sea monitoring of commercial groundfish vessels. Fishermen, along with some state leaders, are raising concerns and making their opposition to the measures known.

Amendment23 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan would require groundfishing vessels to implement 100% at-sea monitoring or a combo of at-sea monitoring and electronic monitoring. And while the goal of the proposal is to improve catch accountability in the fishery, fishermen argue that it’s “overly burdensome and unnecessary.” In addition, with no vaccine available for COVID-19, there are also continued concerns about being able to properly social distance while at sea.

Read the full story at Seafood News

BANGOR DAILY NEWS: Trump administration’s deal to eliminate EU lobster tariffs a good haul for Maine

September 8, 2020 — It’s a good bet that Maine lobstermen have a deeper and more immediate sense of how policies impact their day-to-day work than politicians or pundits. But what are we to make of that impact when the lobstermen themselves can’t seem to agree on it?

On Aug. 25, Swan’s Island lobsterman Jason Joyce spoke at the Republican National Convention and explained why he is voting for President Donald Trump this November, saying that Trump has “followed through on his promises” to the Maine lobster industry.

Joyce highlighted the recent announcement that the Trump administration has negotiated an agreement with the European Union to drop its 8 percent tariff on live U.S. lobster imports and upwards of 20 percent tariff on frozen products for the next 5 years, with the potential of zeroing the tariffs out permanently. Joyce called it “great news for Maine’s lobstermen and women,” and it is.

Read the full opinion piece at the Bangor Daily News

OREGON: Bandon Pacific Seafood in Coos Bay Linked to at least 5 COVID-19 Cases

September 8, 2020 — An outbreak of COVID-19 has been reported at Bandon Pacific Seafood in Coos Bay, Oregon.

The Coos Bay Public Health Department released a statement late last week revealing that at least five cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed at the seafood plant, which is owned by Pacific Seafood. In order to protect privacy, workplace outbreaks are only reported when a workplace has at least 30 employees and five or more of them test positive for COVID-19.

Read the full story at Seafood News

MAINE: New England clammers press through pandemic

September 8, 2020 — For New England’s vanishing commercial clam harvesters, the coronavirus pandemic represents only the most recent in a string of setbacks that have held down the centuries-old industry.

The clamdiggers, who pull softshell clams for use in chowders and clambakes from tidal muck, have weathered an aging workforce, relentless predators that eat shellfish, warming waters and fickle markets. This summer’s pandemic has held back few of the clamdiggers from plying their trade in the coastal clam flats that have fed their customers for generations, members of the industry said.

Buyers have rewarded the clammers with prices that have held up better than many sectors of the beleaguered seafood industry, which has suffered a significant economic hit from the pandemic. But some clammers said the disruption wrought by the pandemic has still created yet another difficulty to deal with.

“If they shut down the borders now, like they did before, we’d be in some big trouble. We rely on shipping,” said Wendell Cressey, a Harpswell clammer. “Not only do we need the tourists to be able to come here and visit, but we need to be able to ship them around the country.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald

Maine’s seafood industry in line for CARES Act relief

September 8, 2020 — Maine’s seafood industry could get a $20 million boost this fall through funds made available under the federal CARES Act.

Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher said state and federal officials are nearing final agreement on exactly how to allocate the funds.

Maine Public reports that individual fishing license holders and shellfish growers who qualify will get the same lump-sum payment, no matter how large or small the operation.

The funds will go to seafood-sector businesses that lost at least 35% of their revenues compared with the same period in previous years.

Read the full story at The Hour